We took withdrawals and also rebalanced, so I have no idea what the exact number is. Even if I knew it, I would then have nothing specific to do with it. If there is a significant market event, we will change our withdrawals, not alter our AA.

L.

You can get what you want, or you can just get old. (Billy Joel, "Vienna")

I'm still not staying the course. That will change as of tomorrow. I'll be 100% L2020 in my TSP. I will be 100% Target Retirement 2015 in both my Roth accounts for my wife and I. No longer am I going to try to time the market. If I am tempted to sell at a low, I'll post here to get all of you great advisers to help me stay the course. God bless you all.

I'm still not staying the course. That will change as of tomorrow. I'll be 100% L2020 in my TSP. I will be 100% Target Retirement 2015 in both my Roth accounts for my wife and I. No longer am I going to try to time the market. If I am tempted to sell at a low, I'll post here to get all of you great advisers to help me stay the course. God bless you all.

20.52% according to my 401k statement. All of my 401k money is in Vanguard's TR 2035 fund. My Roth is made up of the four individual funds (ETF's) that make up the 2035 fund. The return there, according to Vanguard, is 23.5%. Both funds were DCA'd throughout the year on each payday. Not sure why the return in the Roth is so much more, other than it wasn't rebalanced constantly as the TR fund would have been. The ER of the ETF's is lower but not that much lower. I rebalance the Roth using new contributions which possibly let the outperforming TSM fund run ahead until the next contribution.

-- Net worth increased by 25.4%.
-- Entered the two-comma club for the first time this year.
-- Saved 35% of gross income.
-- My investing gains, just barely, were bigger than my contributions. First time for that.
-- Best account returned 32% (a formerly managed account that has ETFs that I can't get rid of due to large gains).
-- Worst account was my precious metals which lost 29%.

All in all, a good year. I target 5% XIRR for all my retirement projections (I'm a tad conservative) so this year was successful, even if the "broad" stock market blew my portfolio away.

Last edited by jaj2276 on Wed Jan 01, 2014 7:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I did make some changes to that account mid year. It was in a target retirement fund, company stock, and some non-VG funds, but now it is total stock/total international and I put a little in the extended market index to increase my small/mid cap exposure.

More importantly, I just donated to this website. I hope the quality of discussions continues and the moderators do an excellent job keeping things tight. I donated because in such a huge up year, it is nice to give back to this community. Thanks to all.

Just curious why folks care what their returns are if they are passive investors?

If one chooses passive investing then your returns are directly related to the returns of the asset classes held in weighted amounts. So for a passive investor calculating how you did this year or next or last makes no sense. If you did well or not is mostly do to your asset allocation and nothing more (sound familiar??)

Now asking what your net worth is now and if your willingness, need, and ability to take risk has changed makes sense to see if one needs to change asset allocation. Comparing your portfolio to the appropriate benchmarks in weighted fashion even makes sense to see if one's tracking error is low to the planned asset allocation.

Good luck.

"The stock market [fluctuation], therefore, is noise. A giant distraction from the business of investing.” |
-Jack Bogle

Vanguard reports my 2013 performance as 20.8% (80/20 allocation). That's not especially reflective of my actual return, though. My assets at Vanguard increased substantially over the course of the year (roughly tripled) due to consolidating accounts and putting new money to work. I haven't sat down yet and done all the number crunching to figure out the overall return--and likely won't be in a hurry to do so.

staythecourse wrote:Just curious why folks care what their returns are if they are passive investors?

If one chooses passive investing then your returns are directly related to the returns of the asset classes held in weighted amounts. So for a passive investor calculating how you did this year or next or last makes no sense. If you did well or not is mostly do to your asset allocation and nothing more (sound familiar??)

Now asking what your net worth is now and if your willingness, need, and ability to take risk has changed makes sense to see if one needs to change asset allocation. Comparing your portfolio to the appropriate benchmarks in weighted fashion even makes sense to see if one's tracking error is low to the planned asset allocation.

Good luck.

+1 exactly what was going through my mind as I read the replies to the post.

I'm amazed at the wealth of Knowledge others gather, and share over a lifetime of learning. The mind is truly unique. It's nice when we use it!

My split is 80/20 in retirement accounts, but these return numbers include my emergency fund. I'm about 65/35 including the e-fund. I was also about 50/50 earlier in the year when I had a big chunk in the G Fund for a few months before taking a TSP loan for a home down payment. I have slightly more international than domestic (market weight split).